"their way of St. James, or to Lourdes, a town in the Hautes-Pyrénées that hosts a few million visitors a year. The Taizé Community has become one of the world's most important sites of Christian pilgrimage. Over 100,000 young people from around the world make pilgrimages to Taizé each year for prayer, Bible study, sharing, and communal work. Disneyland Paris is France's and Europe's most popular theme park, with 15,405,000 combined visitors to the resort's Disneyland Park and Walt Disney Studios Park in 2009. The historical theme park Puy du Fou in Vendée is the second most visited park of"
"Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes or the Domain (as it is most commonly known) is an area of ground surrounding the Catholic shrine (Grotto) to Our Lady of Lourdes in the town of Lourdes, France. The Sanctuary is a destination for pilgrimage; sick pilgrims are reputed to be miraculously healed by Lourdes water. This ground is owned and administrated by the Roman Catholic Church, and has several functions, including devotional activities, offices, and accommodation for sick pilgrims and their helpers. The Domain includes the Grotto itself, the nearby taps which dispense the"
"Pilgrimage to Chartres The Chartres pilgrimage (), also known in French as the pèlerinage de Chrétienté (), is an annual pilgrimage from Notre-Dame de Paris to Notre-Dame de Chartres occurring around the Christian feast of Pentecost, organized by Notre-Dame de Chrétienté (), a Catholic lay non-profit organization based in Versailles, France. Although the pilgrimage has existed since 1983, the organisation was not founded until 2000. The pilgrimage characteristically makes use of the extraordinary form of the Roman rite of the Catholic Church. At Pentecost in 2007, for the 25th anniversary of the pilgrimage, and following the announcement of the ""motu"
"invited the monks of the Abbey of Saint-Maur de Glanfeuil (in Le Thoureil, Maine-et-Loire, western France), who had fled their abbey due to Viking invasion, to relocate to ""Saint Pierre des Fossés"" with their precious relics of Saint Maurus. Later in the Middle Ages, the relics of Saint Maurus became very famous as they were supposed to heal gout and epilepsy, and ""Saint Pierre des Fossés"" became one of the most famous pilgrimage centers of medieval France. The rededication to Saint Maurus, in which abbey was renamed Saint-Maur-des-Fossés (""Saint Maurus of the Moats""), was justified by the story that during"
"Champaigne (now Louvre), showing two nuns, one of whom recovered from serious illness. In the church of Notre-Dame de la Garde in Marseille, France, the site of a major local pilgrimage, the ex-votos include paintings, plaques, model boats, war medals and even football shirts given by players and supporters of Olympique de Marseille, the local team. The magnificent Lod mosaic is thought to be an ex-voto expressing gratitude for rescue from a shipwreck. In the long Votive Chapel of Saint Joseph's Oratory in Montreal, there are fixed on iron grilles hundreds of crutches, canes and braces left behind by pilgrims"
"medically ascertained incomprehension turned out not to be miracles, because the illness reappeared in later years. In the vast number of cases however, the judgment of the medical and ecclesiastical authorities was upheld as beyond medical explanation in later critical investigations. The pilgrimage site is visited by millions each year, and Lourdes has become one of the prominent pilgrimage sites of the world. Miraculous healings have been claimed, and a number of these have been documented by the Lourdes Medical Commission. Large numbers of sick pilgrims travel to Lourdes each year in the hope of physical healing or spiritual renewal."
"the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris to the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Chartres. About 15,000 pilgrims, mostly young families from all over France, participate every year. Roman Catholic Diocese of Chartres The Roman Catholic Diocese of Chartres (Latin: ""Dioecesis Carnutensis""; French: ""Diocèse de Chartres"") is a Roman Catholic Latin Rite diocese in France. The diocese is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Tours. Chartres has been a site of Christian pilgrimage since the Middle Ages. The poet Charles Péguy (1873–1914) revived the pilgrimage route between Paris and Chartres before the First World War. After the war, some students carried on"
"one of the largest and most visited Catholic churches in the Americas, but does not have the specific reputation for healing that Lourdes has. Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes or the Domain (as it is most commonly known) is an area of ground surrounding the Catholic shrine (Grotto) to Our Lady of Lourdes in the town of Lourdes, France. The Sanctuary is a destination for pilgrimage; sick pilgrims are reputed to be miraculously healed by Lourdes water. This ground is owned and administrated by the Roman Catholic Church, and has several functions,"
"Paris, is a major pilgrimage site for Catholics as well. Some of the most famous French saints include St. Thérèse of Lisieux, St. Irenaeus, St. Jean-Marie Vianney the Curé of Ars, St. Joan of Arc, St. Bernadette, Louis IX of France, St. Vincent de Paul, St. Louise de Marillac, St. Catherine Labouré and St. Bernard of Clairvaux. According to long-standing tradition, Mary, Martha, Lazarus (Marie, Marthe and Lazare in French) and some companions, who were expelled by persecutions from the Holy Land, traversed the Mediterranean in a frail boat with neither rudder nor mast and landed at ""Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer"" near Arles."
"aging Mederic had great difficulty in making this journey on foot, and fell ill on arriving at the Collegiate Church of Saint-Martin de Champeaux, near Melun, where they stopped for several months. The two men spent long hours praying in the church. Sometimes they went to Melun to exercise charity; hearing some of the prisoners moaning from the depths of their cell, Mederic moved his heart and asked God for their deliverance. The doors of the prison opened on their own. His cure delayed, he left the monastery of Champeaux. The people came to make him many gifts which he"
"and pilgrimage. He first traveled to Rome on foot, subsisting on what he could get by begging. He then traveled to most of the major shrines of Europe, often several times each. He visited the various shrines in Loreto, Assisi, Naples, and Bari in Italy, Einsiedeln in Switzerland, Paray-le-Monial in France, and Santiago de Compostela in Spain. During these trips he would always travel on foot, sleeping in the open or in a corner of a room, with his clothes muddy and ragged. On one occasion he stopped at the farmhouse of Matthieu and Marie Vianney, who would later become"
"Saint-Méry Saint-Méry is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. Towards the end of the seventh century, Saint Mederic, abbot of Saint-Martin d'Autun, set off on a pilgrimage to the tombs of Saint Denis and Saint Germain, in Paris, in the company of a young monk named Frodulphe. The road was long because the abbot, aging and tired, had to stop often to take rest. It was thus that Mederic and Frodulphe halted at a deserted spot near Paris, where a chapel was then erected to commemorate the pilgrim abbe, whose charity, piety, and"
"Périgueux, had their own home grown saint while others, most notably Santiago de Compostela, claimed the remains and the patronage of a powerful saint, in this case one of the Twelve Apostles. Santiago de Compostela, located near Galicia (present day Spain) became one of the most important pilgrimage destinations in Europe. Most of the pilgrims travelled the Way of St. James on foot, many of them barefooted as a sign of penance. They moved along one of the four main routes that passed through France, congregating for the journey at Jumièges, Paris, Vézelay, Cluny, Arles and St. Gall in Switzerland."
"ordered him to go. Embarking at Ostia, he landed in France, and cured many sick of the plague in Provence as he passed. He then went to the king at his residence, the Château de Plessis-lez-Tours (now within the village of La Riche), and was with him at his death. Charles VIII, Louis's successor, was an admirer of the saint and during his reign kept him near the court and frequently consulted him. This king built a monastery for the Minims there near the chateau at Plessis and another at Rome on the Pincian Hill. Francis also influenced many in"
"with the Pilgrimage for a further two years as members, helpers may apply for admission to full membership of the Hospitalité the following year. The Hospitalité Council may also invite 'Sick Pilgrims' to become full members of the Hospitalité who support the organization through their prayers. It is worth remembering that members are encouraged to take the Spirit of Lourdes home with them and to promote the pilgrimage, in particular by recruiting other volunteers and by making known the facilities provided for Sick Pilgrims, both those who need to stay in an Accueil (house of welcome for the sick) and"
"Chartres. The pilgrimage gradually increased in popularity, reaching ten thousand pilgrims in 1988. In 1988, traditionalist archbishop Marcel Lefebvre consecrated four priests as bishops without the approval of Pope John Paul II, an act of schism which split the traditionalist community in two. Thus, in 1989, two pilgrimages were organised: one called """"Pèlerinage de Chrétienté"""" (Pilgrimage of Christendom) from Paris to Chartres, and the other called """"Pèlerinage de Tradition"""" (Pilgrimage of Tradition) from Chartres to Paris. Pilgrimage to Chartres The Chartres pilgrimage (), also known in French as the pèlerinage de Chrétienté (), is an annual pilgrimage from Notre-Dame de"
"TGV stock, the pilgrimage will once again be travelling on an overnight sleeper train through France, in addition to a direct chartered flight from Manchester to Lourdes. Diocese of Shrewsbury Lourdes Pilgrimage ""The Roman Catholic Diocese of Shrewsbury serves the population of New Cheshire, Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin with parts of Derbyshire, Halton, Merseyside, Greater Manchester and Warrington."" Administratively the Diocese is part of the Archdiocese province of Birmingham. The Shrewsbury Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes is an annual undertaking for over 1000 pilgrims from across the Diocese to the shrine town of Lourdes in Southern France. Traditionally the pilgrimage takes"
"HCPT – The Pilgrimage Trust HCPT or Hosanna House and Children's Pilgrimage Trust is a United Kingdom based charity which travels with disabled and disadvantaged children and adults on pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, in Lourdes, France. HCPT stands for Hosanna House and Children's Pilgrimage Trust, Hosanna House being the property the organisation owns in the hills above Lourdes. HCPT is a charity which was formed in 1956 when Dr. Michael Strode first took four children with disabilities on a pilgrimage holiday to Lourdes, establishing a new approach to pilgrimage for children with disabilities. From HCPT"
"go to the Basilica of St. Thérèse in Lisieux every year on a pilgrimage, in general on October 1 – the feast day of the saint. Prior to his death, he had a chapel constructed in the Bugeat cemetery to serve as his final resting place. Legion of Honour Others Alain Mimoun died at the age of 92 in the evening of 27 June 2013 at the Hôpital d'instruction des armées Bégin in Saint-Mandé, in the departement of Val-de-Marne in the Île-de-France region. The cause of death was not disclosed. In a communiqué made public by the Élysée Palace French"
"depicted with a raven, which is guiding him as a pilgrim to the Holy Land. William Firmatus William Firmatus (; 1026–1103) was a Norman hermit and pilgrim of the eleventh century, now venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church. William Firmatus was a canon and a physician of Tours, France. Following a spiritual prompting against greed, he gave away all his possessions to the poor. He lived a reclusive life with his mother until he entered a hermitage near Laval, Mayenne. He spent the rest of his life on pilgrimages and as a hermit at Savigny and Mantilly. According"
"Roman Catholic Diocese of Chartres The Roman Catholic Diocese of Chartres (Latin: ""Dioecesis Carnutensis""; French: ""Diocèse de Chartres"") is a Roman Catholic Latin Rite diocese in France. The diocese is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Tours. Chartres has been a site of Christian pilgrimage since the Middle Ages. The poet Charles Péguy (1873–1914) revived the pilgrimage route between Paris and Chartres before the First World War. After the war, some students carried on the pilgrimage in his memory. Since the 1980s, the association Notre-Dame de Chrétienté, with offices in Versailles, has organized the annual 100-km pilgrimage on foot from"
"patron saint of the commune of Saint-Fiacre, Seine-et-Marne, France. He is the patron of growers of vegetables and medicinal plants, and gardeners in general, including ploughboys. His reputed aversion to women is believed to be the reason he is also considered the patron of victims of venereal disease. He is further the patron of victims of hemorrhoids and fistulas, taxi cab drivers, box makers, florists, hosiers, pewterers, tilemakers, and those suffering from infertility. Finally, he is commonly invoked to heal persons suffering from various infirmities, premised on his reputed skill with medicinal plants. From about 1650, the Hotel de Saint"
"is now a major Catholic pilgrimage site. One of these churches, the Basilica of St. Pius X can accommodate 25 thousand people and was dedicated by the future Pope John XXIII when he was the Papal Nuncio to France. In 1866 Venerable Marie Martha Chambon began to report visions of Jesus telling her to contemplate the Holy Wounds, although it is said that she had received her first vision when only five years old. She was a member of the Monastery of the Visitation Order who lived in Chambéry, France, and is in the process of canonization by the Roman"
"of the Sick only one year after his diagnosis. The Pope had written a great deal on the topic of suffering and believed that it was very much a salvific and redeeming process through Christ, as he indicated in his apostolic letter Salvifici Doloris. The feast of Lourdes was chosen because many pilgrims and visitors to Lourdes have reportedly been healed by intercessions of the Blessed Virgin. The pontiff was also fond of the sanctuary of Harissa in Lebanon. In 2005, the World Day of the Sick had a special significance since it was the year John Paul died from"
"and a great love for Jesus and his Mother. Her career was cut short, however, as she was diagnosed with tuberculosis in her bones in 1920. Eventually she was diagnosed as incurable and advised to prepare for her death. Not abandoning hope, Tombrock made a pilgrimage to the famed Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in France, noted for the many healing miracles which had taken place there. Arriving there on 15 August 1909, she took part in a religious ceremony. In the course of that service, she seemed to become unconscious for some twenty minutes. Later she recounted that"
"them) is known as the Hospitalité Notre-Dame de Lourdes (Hospitality of Our Lady of Lourdes). In the past a ‘Hospitality’ was a charitable organisation whose aim was to gather, accommodate and feed the less fortunate in a hostel or hospital. Today the Hospitalité Notre-Dame de Lourdes (HNDL) builds on that tradition, welcoming pilgrims to Lourdes (especially, but not only, the sick and disabled), and assisting at religious ceremonies. It is an organisation of pilgrims at the service of other pilgrims and Our Lady. All Hospitalités around the world are connected to the HNDL. A period of service with the Hospitalité"
"the local priest to build a chapel at the site of her visions eventually gave rise to a number of chapels and churches at Lourdes. The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes is now one of the major Catholic pilgrimage sites in the world. One of the churches built at the site, the Basilica of St. Pius X, can accommodate 25,000 people and was dedicated by the future Pope John XXIII when he was the Papal Nuncio to France. Close to 5 million pilgrims from all over the world visit Lourdes (population of about 15,000) every year to pray and"
"attractions. Each year millions of Christians travel on pilgrimage. The most popular pilgrim destination is the Abrahamic Holy Land, or Jerusalem, Israel. Most Christian pilgrimage destinations are based on the Roman Catholic faith, especially shrines devoted to apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary such as: Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico, Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal, and Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in France. There is also interest in pilgrimage to St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican in Rome, the capital of the Roman Catholic Church. Although no definitive study has been completed on"
"Basilica of St. Thérèse, Lisieux The Basilica of St. Thérèse of Lisieux () is a Roman Catholic church and minor basilica dedicated to Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. Located in Lisieux, France, the large basilica can accommodate 4,000 people, and, with more than two million visitors a year, is the second largest pilgrimage site in France, after Lourdes. Pope John Paul II visited the Basilica on 2 June 1980. Saint Thérèse of Lisieux was beatified in 1923 and canonised in 1925. It was decided to build a large basilica dedicated to her in the city where she lived and died. The"
"1976. Visited Lourdes: 1 May 1970. Age 41, from Le Lion-d'Angers, France. Recurrent right hemiplegia, with ocular lesions, due to bilateral carotid artery disorders. Symptoms, which included headache, impaired speech and vision, and partial right-side paralysis began without warning in February 1964. During the next six years he became a wheelchair user, and nearly blind. While on pilgrimage to Lourdes in April 1970, he felt a sudden warmth from head to toe, his vision returned, and he was able to walk unaided. His cure was recognised on 17 June 1978. Visited Lourdes: 24 December 1976. Age 12, from Paterno, Sicily."
"of the Holy Cross (Crosiers or Crutched Friars). In the Crosier Church in Maastricht, the Netherlands, a large mural from the 16th century depicts eight scenes from her life and legend. The legend of Gertrude's vision of the ocean voyage led her to be as well the patron saint of travelers. In memory of this event, medieval travelers drank a so-called ""Sinte Geerts Minne"" or ""Gertrudenminte"" before setting out on their journey. Her attention to the care of her garden led her assistance to be invoked by gardeners, and also against rats and mental illness. Le Tour Sainte-Gertrude is a"
"Via Francigena The Via Francigena () is the common name of an ancient road and pilgrim route running from France to Rome, though it is usually considered to have its starting point on the other side of the English Channel, in the cathedral city of Canterbury. As such, the route passes through England, France, Switzerland and Italy. The route was known in Italy as the """"Via Francigena"""" (""the road that comes from France"") or the """"Via Romea Francigena"""" (""the road to Rome that comes from France""). In medieval times it was an important road and pilgrimage route for those wishing"
"that died in infancy to be buried at the Cistercian abbey of Royaumont; in 1820 they were transferred to Saint-Denis Basilica. During his second crusade, Louis died at Tunis on 25 August 1270, in an epidemic of dysentery that swept through his army. As Tunis was Muslim territory, his body was subject to the process known as ""mos Teutonicus"" (a postmortem funerary custom used in medieval Europe whereby the flesh was boiled from the body, so that the bones of the deceased could be transported hygienically from distant lands back home) for its transportation back to France. He was succeeded"